On a recent edition of the Pivot podcast, Stephen A. Smith was asked about his feud with LeBron James, which went to another level last season when LeBron confronted the ESPN personality over comments he made regarding Bronny James on First Take.
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy?” Smith asked Pivot hosts Ryan Clark and Channing Crowder. “Let’s call it what it is. You ever see him do that? You saw him come at me. Closest you ever came to seeing him do something like that was when he called out Brian Windhorst. What you calling out Brian Windhorst for? The man covered you since junior high school and has praised you repeatedly and you used the Pat McAfee situation to go at him. And that’s the only time you ever seen LeBron James really go at somebody white. I’m going to call it what it is.”
Stephen A Smith says LeBron James doesn’t keep the same energy he has with him with white journalist:
“You ever see LeBron go at a white boy like he did with me ?? Let’s call it like it is the only time he did was when he was making fun of Brian Windhorst who supported him… pic.twitter.com/E04jl4XDze
— Ahmed/The Ears/IG: BigBizTheGod 🇸🇴 (@big_business_) October 17, 2025
Unless I’m nuts, Smith contradicted his own argument by pointing out that LeBron has had a public beef with Brian Windhorst. I wanted to find out what other media members James has had issues with over the years, because I couldn’t really find any. A Google search turned up nothing except for a story about LeBron having a media feud with Bill Oram, who is white, from The Oregonian.
If anyone knows of any other LeBron James media feuds over the years, please let me know. It would’ve been nice if Smith offered some context to saying, “You ever seen LeBron go at a white boy,” because it doesn’t seem like James has gone after many people in his 22-year career.
Smith then claimed to have “receipts” against LeBron.
“When I did my monologue for 17-and-a half, 18-minutes the day after he decided to go on Pat McAfee’s show and I said what I said, and meant every syllable of what I said, immediately after, I was informed that ‘we won’t be hearing more from him about me,’” said Smith.
“That’s what I thought. Because I got receipts. I got receipts. Anytime, anywhere, any place.”
I don’t really know what that means, but if you watch the full clip of Smith talking about James, it seems pretty clear, at least to me, what really irked Smith. When James publicly criticized Smith for talking about Bronny, it came on the Pat McAfee Show.
The combination of LeBron going on McAfee, who is both a colleague and competitor, and not First Take, along with James trashing Smith on ESPN, and more specifically on the show that airs right after First Take, appears to be what really sent Smith over the edge for this impartial bystander and media observer.
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